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Transmeta hooks Nvidia for $25m power payment

The longest run

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Transmeta - yes, you remember them - has picked up a prominent licensee scalp in the form of Nvidia.

Transmeta today revealed that Nvidia will pay a one-time fee of $25m for a license to Long Run and LongRun2 - a pair of power management technologies. Such licensing deals have become Transmeta's main path to revenue - outside of suing Intel - ever since it gave up on making chips. Presumably, Nvidia will use the technology to squeeze a bit more energy efficiency out of is graphics processors.

Word of the Nvidia deal arrived as Transmeta issued second quarter financial results. Revenue for the period came in at $366,000, which is almost enough to get a studio apartment in East Palo Alto. Net income for Q2 was $214,000.

Transmeta had an embarrassing number of charges and other income items related to its large settlement with Intel, restructuring and stock compensation. After adding and subtracting all these items, Transmeta exited the quarter debt free with $142m in cash and other assets.

Shares of Transmeta were near a 52-week high ($15.70) at $14.67 per share at the end of today's trading. ®